Set in the village of Y Felinheli on the banks of the beautiful Menai Straits, the Garddfon Inn is a wonderful example of a traditional rural community pub.

This historic inn has welcomed guests for over two hundred years.

We certainly felt at home as we received a cheery welcome from the staff who led us through the lounge bar with its beamed ceilings, past happy locals enjoying a drink, through various rambling rooms all of which had a nautical theme with pictures of shipwrecks adorning the walls.

We eventually made our way to the newly refurbished bistro area where depending on your mood or requirements you could choose from the smallish standard menu or its associated famous chalkboard of specials, both of which offered abundance of choice with a bias towards locally sourced, seasonal ingredients.

Inside Garddfon Inn, Y Felinheli

There was an extensive drink list but we settled for coffee, which we nursed whilst deliberating what to choose by looking at the various chalkboard options dotted all over the place.

At the first touch of my fork, the beef fell apart, the red wine, mustard and mushroom sauce had a knock-you-down richness of flavour, it was a perfect rendition.

“Lovely,” declared my wife as she nibbled a forkful of the beef. “That’s good. Wanna swap?”.

“No,” I said, offering the red cabbage, mange tout and carrots as a peacekeeper.

My wife’s smoked fillet of haddock might have come from the creature that housed Jonah.

It was served with a soft poached egg au gratin with a side portion of chips and was polished off quicker than I could say “Yo Ho Ho ”.

It must have been the sea air that left us with room for pudding and I fancied the homely bread and butter pudding with layers of buttery bread drenched with fresh cream vanilla custard, juicy sultanas and a hint of nutmeg.

Fantastic.

Garddfon Inn, Y Felinheli

My wife had the lighter raspberry and mascarpone roulade, served in a knickerbocker glory-type glass with a egg meringue, a fruity raspberry sauce and fresh raspberries.

It was restrained in its sweetness and all the better for it.

So a real community pub with great ingredients in a wondrous marine setting what could go wrong?

Well nothing actually, the food was plentiful without straining the purse strings.

And we ate not one thing that wasn’t first-rate. How often can you say that, even in the best restaurants, never mind a rural pub?

In last week's Taste Test, Julie Richards-Williams reviewed the Old Stag in Llangernyw. Find out what she thought.